They would come back in twenty minutes, but for now it was just him and Elliot. He pulled the chair close and sat down.
Elliot turned his head to look at him. “Reed?”
“Reed is fine. They found him six hours after—” Hudson stopped. “Six hours later. His team had pulled north, toward the ridge. Exactly where you kept saying they’d be.”
Relief washed over Elliot’s face. Relief that Reed was found. That someone had finally listened to what he had been saying.
“You were right.” Hudson leaned forward. “He’s home, Elliot. Sarah and Mae picked him up at the airport a few days ago. He said to tell you—” He pulled out his phone, scrolled, found the message. “He said, and I quote, ‘tell Shaw he needs to get his ass back home. I need his gay decor expertise for?—”
“Shut up,” Elliot half-laughed.
“I swear to God. It says so right here—” Hudson tipped the phone to show Elliot the text that definitely didn’t exist, but Elliot lifted his hand and shoved it away.
“Stop being an idiot.”
“Fine. He told me to tell you that he loves you and that we all need you to stop being a drama queen.”
Elliot closed his eyes. “That sounds more like it.”
“God, you have no idea how great it is to hear you call me an idiot.” Hudson grinned.
“Idiot,” Elliot repeated, opening his eyes. They raked over Hudson’s face, his clothes, the dark circles that he didn’t need a mirror to know were there.
“You look like shit,” Elliot said.
“Thank you.”
“When did you last sleep?”
“I sleep. In the chair. Sometimes.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Three days. Two days fighting to get here.” He still felt horrible about that. Thinking about Elliot alone in this room for two days made his chest hurt. “I came as soon as I could. Okafor made about forty phone calls to get me here.”
“You didn’t have to?—”
“Of course I did. Don’t argue with me about this. You’ve been unconscious for six days and I’ve had no one to argue with. I havealotsaved up and you do not want to test me.”
“Fine. Okay. But now you need to leave.”
“What? I’m not leaving.”
“Hudson, you need to sleep. And shower—please. You smell horrible.” His eyes were fixed on Hudson. “Go. Sleep. Come back to me.”
He knew arguing with Elliot was pointless. He’d cave eventually anyway.
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll go. But only for one night.”
“One night,” Elliot agreed.
He bent down and gave him a tender kiss. Then he collected his jacket from the back of the chair and glancedaround the room he had memorized over the last three days. When his eyes landed on the bed it was no longer the same heart-wrenching feeling.
So he went. Walked to the door.
“Hey Hudson,” Elliot’s raw voice said behind him.
Hudson turned around. “Yeah?”
